Happy New Year!
My Picks of the Month
The Rand Corporation is a think tank created after World War II that describes itself as
a “research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to
make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, health and more
prosperous.” It was formed to connect military planning with research and
development decisions. A recent study, Blinders,
Blunders, and Wars: What America and China Can Learn ($49.95, softcover, www.rand.org) was authored by David C. Gompert,
Hans Binnendijk, and Bonny Lin. Anyone interested in wars, past, present, and
future will find this examination of “eight strategic blunders” and the lessons
to be drawn from them will find this book of interest. It looks at Napoleon’s
disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812, repeated by German military leaders in
1941, Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, and other such decisions including the
U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. It also looks at four cases of warfare that were
not blunders. A combination of history and strategic analysis makes this a very
interesting book.
When Globalization Fails: The Rise and
Fall of Pax Americana by
James MacDonald ($27.00. Farrar, Straus and Giroux), a historian and former
investment banker, takes a look at the way the U.S. has gone most recently from
the number one economy to number two for the first time since well before World
War ii. MacDonald concludes that the U.S. is withdrawing from its long role as
a protector of the sea lanes and as the global policeman that intervenes to
avoid problems from rogue nations. Suffice to say he sees a nation in decline,
but he does so as the U.S. has become a major energy power thanks to technology
that has unlocked vast quantities of natural gas and oil. For six years the
Obama administration has withdrawn from wars in hotspots like Iraq, but is now
reversing that policy because the decision led to a worsening situation. As the
U.S. comes out of the 2008 financial crisis, its dollar will strengthen and the
likelihood is that it will regain its global role, but you will not read that
in this otherwise interesting book’s cloudy crystal ball.
If you’re
thinking of taking a vacation or business trip this year, pick up a copy of The Savvy Traveler: 175 Ways to Save by
Robert B. Diener ($8.99, softcover, $2.99 Kindle, available from Amazon.com.)
The author is the founder of Getaroom.com, a hotel booking site, and a frequent
guest on CNN, Fox News, and CNBC, as well as a source for publications such as
The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The New York Times. His book is very
reader-friendly as he tells you how to find the very best hotel room rates,
domestically, and make good travel choices. Its international travel section
provides tips on how to handle currency issues, be safe, and find the best
deals overseas. All manner of ways to save money from renting cars to selecting
a cruise, as well of course finding the best flights for any destination while
avoiding fees and other costs. This is the kind of information any traveler
would want to know and should acquire before leaving home.
Another book, The Disaster Handbook is by Robert Brown Butler ($15.95, softcover, available from Amazon.com) an architect who has penned five other books that were published by McGraw-Hill. This book addresses what to do to prepare your home or workplace for a disaster and do so in advance when it counts. It provides advice on how to be safe when a disaster like a hurricane occurs and how to best repair afterwards. It goes way beyond that, however, describing how to store and use all the foods, tools, and other “calamity commodities” you will need should misfortune come knocking on your door and how to survive with no electricity and pure water. It is packed with practical information and it does so while avoiding scaring the heck out of the reader by providing a lighthearted text that is “user friendly” from beginning to end. This is a “safe, not sorry” book worth reading before a disaster occurs.
Another book, The Disaster Handbook is by Robert Brown Butler ($15.95, softcover, available from Amazon.com) an architect who has penned five other books that were published by McGraw-Hill. This book addresses what to do to prepare your home or workplace for a disaster and do so in advance when it counts. It provides advice on how to be safe when a disaster like a hurricane occurs and how to best repair afterwards. It goes way beyond that, however, describing how to store and use all the foods, tools, and other “calamity commodities” you will need should misfortune come knocking on your door and how to survive with no electricity and pure water. It is packed with practical information and it does so while avoiding scaring the heck out of the reader by providing a lighthearted text that is “user friendly” from beginning to end. This is a “safe, not sorry” book worth reading before a disaster occurs.
There was
a time when every parent knew that providing incentives and rewards was an
excellent way to guide a child. Teachers, too, used them in the form of gold
stars and in some schools they have even eliminated grades. Herbert J. Walberg
and Joseph L. Bast have joined together to write Rewards: How to Use Rewards to Help Children Learn—and Why Teachers
Don’t Use Them Well ($14.95, The Heartland Institute, softcover). Their
book offers research that proves rewards help children learn and the failure to
provide them can actually hurt their development. If you don’t know whether you’re
doing well or not, why would you try to do better? The elimination of rewards
is the result of the progressive ideology that puts the emphasis on self-esteem
at the same it eliminates any reason for students to feel confident in a
personal achievement that is ignored. Indeed, as the book reveals, students in
teachers colleges are no longer being taught to use the rewards that served the
many generations of students that preceded the present ones. It’s no secret
there is a crisis in our public education systems these days and this book
addresses one important reason for it.
There’s
fun to be had in PsyQ by Ben
Ambridge ($16.00, Penguin Books, softcover) that provides a way to “test
yourself with more than 80 quizzes, puzzles, and experiments” designed to
reflect everyday life. As you work your way through them, you will better
understand yourself as the author, a psychologist, explains how psychology
identifies and determines the forces that guide one’s personality, choices, et
cetera. Beginning with the famed Rorschach test and moving through scores of
other methods psychologists employ, you will become your own psychologist and
learn a great deal about this branch of science. For pure fun, there’s Uncle John’s Canoramic Bathroom Reader® ($19.95,
Bathroom Reader’s Press, Ashland, OR, softcover) whose 27th edition
tips in at a whopping 544 pages that is a collection of the world’s weirdest
and most fascinating facts and stories. It has sold more than 15 million copies
since its debut in 1988. Whatever your interests, you will find plenty between
its covers to interest you and plenty more as you flip through its pages. This
is the ultimate trivia book and one that is also wonderfully education and
entertaining at the same time.
I have
never had any contact with police that was much more than asking for
directions, but what happens when it involves something more serious? What
should someone say if a police officer stops to ask a few questions? Why does
it take so long for most cases to go to trial? How can one help a relative who
has been accused of a crime? If these questions interest you, then pick up a
copy of Dan Conaway’s Arrested: Battling
America’s Criminal Justice System ($19.95, Bascom Hill Publishing Group,
softcover.) As the author makes clear,
too many Americans have no idea how dangerous, confusing and frustrating the
criminal justice system really is. An attorney for 19 years, he was named one
of the Top Ten Attorneys in 2013 by the National Academy of Criminal Defense
Attorneys. This one of those books that anyone who might have to deal with the
system should read.
December
was a month filled with news of Islamist attacks from Australia to Pakistan,
all quite senseless. For those who want to learn more about Islam, there’s The Handy Islam Answer Book by John
Renard. Ph.D., ($21.95, Visible Ink Press, softcover) a professor of theology
and scholar of Islam with more than forty years of research and teaching
experience. His book takes a scholar’s approach, not offering moral judgments,
but it does offer a vast cross-culture understand of Islam in terms of its
history, beliefs, symbols, rituals, art and literature, customs, traditions,
and ethnic diversity. It is the world second largest religion and this
user-friendly guide will answer most questions that anyone might have. Visible
Ink Press has a number of these guides and I have been happy to recommend those
devoted to history and to science in the past.
Show Biz
For anyone
dreaming of going to Hollywood and making a career in films or television, it
would be a good idea to read Hollywood
War Stories: How to Survive in the Trenches—A Rule Book by Rick Friedberg
with contributions by Dick Chudlow ($14.95, softcover, available at
Amazon.com). This is truly an insider’s look at the industry for anyone
thinking about working in it creating and producing music, writing comedy,
acting, and other elements of “show biz” Hollywood-style. Friedberg is an award-winning
writer/director of movies such as “Spy Hard”, television, “CSI-Miami, the Real
Housewives of Orange County”, documentaries, music videos, and television
commercials you have likely seen during the Super Bowl or World Series. It is
filled with “war stories” and lots of very excellent advice on how to navigate
the industry, particularly how it functions behind-the-scenes. You will learn the do’s and don’ts of dealing
with the frustrations and politics that must be addressed in order to have a lasting
career. It is a very entertaining as well as educational book.
Coming in
February, Black History Month is Black
Broadway: African Americans on the Great White Way by six-time Tony Award
winning producer and author, Steward F. Lane. He offers an insider’s look at
Broadway in a book filled with more than 300 photos ($39.95, Square One
Publishers). For anyone who loves Broadway, this book belongs in their library
as Lane puts the spotlight on landmark shows such as A Raisin in the Sun, Porgy
and Bess, Dreamgirls, The Wiz and many more who gave us an opportunity to
enjoy the talents of Ethel Waters, Pearl Bailey, Harry Belafonte, Sidney
Pointier, Sammy Davis Jr, who lighted the stage in plays and musicals by August
Wilson, Larraine Hansberry, and other greats of the theatre. All your favorite
black performers are to be found in this book about the struggles and triumphs
on stage of names of those whose talent has made them legends. The book
celebrates the playwrights, songwriters, directors, choreographers and
designers who changed the American theatre and around the world. This is great
history from minstrel shows to vaudeville, from the jazz age to the golden age
of the American musical. This is not just black history, but American history.
Getting Down to Business
Books
One of the
most entertaining business books is Mitzi Perdue’s book about her husband, Frank
Perdue, the man behind the chicken empire. Tough
Man, Tender Chicken: Business & Life Lessons from Frank Perdue ($20.00,
Significance Press.com) tells how a father and son business, thanks to Frank
Perdue’s ethics and ambition, grew into a business employing 19,000 men and
women, selling its products in a hundred different countries. For the business
school student or future entrepreneur, this book will prove invaluable because
it spells out what took young Frank in the 1950s selling chickens in the way
the industry had done to the development of a whole new way of reaching out to
the consumer. The book offers lessons from the way Perdue conducted his life
and his business that are invaluable for success. They start with being honest
always, treating everyone with respect and courtesy, and remembering to laugh,
have fun, but knowing that hard work can be satisfying and fulfilling. I
recommend this book for its timeless lessons and its story of a remarkable man.
More than three million small businesses have decided to go without employer-provided insurance because of the cost. The co-author, Rick Lindquest, of The End of Employer-Provided Health Insurance: Why It’s Good for You, Your Family, and Your company, ($24.00, Wiley) written with Paul Zane Pilzer, says “It no longer makes financial, legal, or social sense for any U.S. employer to continue providing health insurance to its employees.” Since 2000, the percentage of Americans covered by employer-provided health insurance has declined annually. The authors argue that the Affordable Care Act has made it easier and cheaper for most individuals to buy their own insurance and therein lies the flaw to this book. What many have discovered is that the ACA premiums are higher than expected as are its deductibles. It even penalizes companies who fail to sign up if they have a higher than specified number, causing many already to have put employees on a part-time basis and to not employ more. The authors note that some businesses will replace their group policy with a defined contribution plan that offers a stipend to employees to buy health insurance. This book will help the reader understand the problems that the ACA has created, but you would be advised to read “around” it and to understand ObamaCare is at risk of being revised by Congress or even repealed at some point. Nobody seems to like it much.
In a similar fashion Surviving the Medical Meltdown: Your Guide to Living Through the Disaster of Obamacare by Dr. Lee Hieb, MD ($17.95, WMD Books, softcover) is testimony to the fact that government health care anywhere in the world has never been as good as they provided by the free market. This book is a guide to prepare you and your family to prevent and deal with a multitude of medical issues, from finding doctors during a shortage to tips for dealing with everything from rashes to fevers to fractures and chest pain at home. Dr. Heib is a past president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. His book explores what ObamaCare will and won’t cover, which medications you should stockpile, and tips to maintain your health so you won’t need a doctor. If you or your family members are at risk for hereditary illnesses, this is must reading, but it is also must reading in order to prepare for the problems the Affordable Patient Care Act has created.
Due out in
February, The Job Pirate by Brandon
Christopher ($16.95, Bleeding Heart Publications, softcover) is a funny,
irreverent, first-person account of the author’s journey through the American
job market that some are calling a workplace “survival guide” for Gen-X and
Millennials. Christopher writes of some two dozen “crappy” jobs out of the
eighty-two he has worked over the last twenty years. Some are hilarious and
some are absurd. He writes with wit and intelligence as he offers a look at the
lighter and darker sides of humanity in the workplace. It is a compassionate
look at the lives of the many people we encounter anonymously every day. As
Christopher says, “Knowing the score is half the battle. Once you realize that
this is no longer your Day’s America, it becomes easier to survive it. Much
about the employment scene has changed and this book is an excellent
introduction to the new realities.
In Leading Women: 20 Influential Women Share
Their Secrets to Leadership, Business, and Life ($16.99, Adams Media,
softcover) Nancy D. O’Reilly, a clinical psychologist brings her knowledge and
experience interviewing successful women for the past seven years to the pages
of a book that encourages women to “claim power and respect, conquer your
internal barriers, and change the world by helping other women do the same.” This
book is a new addition to a genre of similar books intended to help women who
enter the male-dominated world of business and to break free of limits that can
impose. Studies have shown that companies in which women have risen to be CEOs
and on the boards actually do better than those who do not. This book
synthesizes the experiences and the advice of women who have achieve success
and will no doubt help any woman, especially the younger ones entering the
workplace, to find their own success.
Once you
have found success and worked hard, the next hurdle to master is retirement. What To Do to Retire Successfully:
Navigating Psychological, Financial and Lifestyle Hurdles ($15.95,
New Horizon Press, softcover) by Martin B. Goldstein is due out in February.
Seventy-seven million baby boomers are slated to retire over the next twenty
years, about 10,000 daily, and the author, a physician whose clinical practices
specialized in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders, is
happily retired and wants you to be as well. Many planning on retiring have
been hard hit by the recent economic recession and a very slowly improving
economy. The plans they made have been disrupted. Everyone worries that they
may not have enough funds to maintain their lifestyle. If that description fits
you or someone in your family, this book will likely prove very helpful for
them, at any point in their life, to make the right decisions about the rest of
it. The budget bill that Congress passed in mid-December has changed the status
of pensions, allowing the payout to be altered. If you have such a pension you
should look into this because many pensioners are likely to find they will
receive less in the years ahead.
Your Mental Health
Life is
filled with problems and how we deal with them determines how we can achieve
peace of mind. How to Survive: The
Extraordinary Resilience of Ordinary People ($14.95, Think Piece
Publishing, softcover) by Andy Steiner offers a number of inspiring recovery
stories as well as resources to help people get through difficult times.
There’s a lot of practical wisdom in this book by a writer with some impressive
credits to her name, included Self,
Glamour and Fitness, to name just
a few publications in which her work has appear. You will learn how the people
in the book overcame a massive heart attack, bankruptcy, the death of a spouse,
the suicide of a family member, and other challenges. For anyone passing
through a comparable situation, this will be a welcome book to read. In a
similar way, Overcoming Shock: Healing
the Traumatized Mind and Heart by Diane Zimberoff and David Hartman
($15.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) tells us that a serious trauma is
experienced by 7.7 million adults nationwide and millions more worldwide
annually. It can be a threatening illness, the sudden death of a loved one, or
a terrorist act like the Boston Marathon bombing. It causes people to mentally
and physically shut down. This book provides proven strategies, techniques and
tools for successful treatment and provides real-life stories of people who
successfully overcame the debilitating effects and post-traumatic ramifications
of shock and trauma. Ms. Zimeroff is a licensed marriage and family therapist
and Hartman is a clinical social worker who specializes in trauma resolution.
All of us
encounter anxiety in some fashion in our lives and Dr. Margaret Wehrenberg has
written The Ten Best Anxiety Busters:
Simple Strategies to Take Control of Your Worry ($13.95, W.W. Norton,
softcover) that will help the reader address and overcome any one of a wide
range of often common fears. From fear of flying to not like being in a
confined space like an elevator, whether the anxiety is minor or a more serious
panic disorder, the good news is that one can address and overcome it. The
author, a doctor of psychology, has provided ten simple techniques that include
breathing exercises and relaxation practices, as well as how to effectively
talk to yourself, among other ways to rid yourself of anxieties, large and
small, that interfere with enjoying your life. And then there’s Guilt, Shame and Anxiety: Understanding and
Overcoming Negative Emotions by Dr. Peter R. Breggin ($19.00, Prometheus
Books, softcover) who has devoted decades to leading successful efforts to
reform the mental health field and promote empathic therapies. His work has
provided the foundation for modern criticism of psychiatric drugs and
diagnoses. His latest book offers the first unified theory of guilt, shame, and
anxiety, showing how these emotions eventually become self-defeating and
demoralizing. He guides the reader through the “Three Steps to Emotional
Freedom” and for anyone whose life is being diminished by negative emotions,
this book will surely open doors to a far better one.
I would
particularly recommend Change Your Mind,
Change Your Health: 7 Ways to Harness the Power of Your Brain to Achieve True
Well-Being by Anne Marie Ludovici, ($15.99, Career Press, softcover) a
noted behavioral health consultant. Americans are overwhelmed daily by all
kinds of advice on how to avoid heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and
certain types of cancer, all leading causes of preventable death, but as often
as not, they don’t make the changes necessary to ensure good health. The author
notes that nearly 80 million Americans are deemed obese or overweight and
smokers often take up to seven or more tries to actually stop. Her new book
offers proven, evidence-based behavioral tools for “achieving a self-assured
and sustainable sense of health and well-being in the face of all obstacles or
challenges.” If you are experiencing a struggle to take up good habits and
break bad ones, this book will prove very helpful.
If you or
someone you know is the parent of a child with autism, Living Autism Day By Day: Daily reflections and Strategies to Give You
Hope and Courage ($23.00. Freedom Abound, softcover) by Pamela
Bryson-Weaver will provide some valuable insight on how to cope and what to do.
The author has three children with special needs. John, her youngest, has
autism and Joshua, the oldest, has Tourette’s and ADHD. That set her on a
journey from being “just a mom” to becoming an expert on these conditions.
Autism, also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is a multiplex of
development disabilities. According to the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention, an estimated one in fifty children in the U.S. has autism. Her book
tells what information and help is available for the services and professionals
who provide it, what to believe and dismiss regarding what one will hear about
autism, and what types of feelings, emotions, and issue you will deal with on a
personal level as a parent or caregiver. The book has received a great deal of
praise from professionals and parenting experts.
For the
beautiful women in the world, there’s a book especially for them. The Beautiful Woman Syndrome and the
Invisible Man by Jake Kelly ($13.35/$14.95, softcover and Kindle, available
from Amazon.com) explores his hypothesis that they have more frequent
encounters with me because, while they wanted comfort, nurturing and caring,
the men wanted sex. “They universally complained of frequent, successive
encounters ending with sex and then rejection. They felt it was their fault;
that they weren’t loveable; that they always fell for the wrong guy when what
they wanted was a good guy. For those women experiencing this syndrome, Kelly
has written a book on how to spot a “hit man”, the type who’s only interested
in adding one more sexual conquest, how develop the ability to spot this type
and avoid the unhappiness that comes with them. The “invisible man” is basically
a good guy and there are plenty of them. I have known a few beautiful women in
my life and can confirm that this book offers some excellent advice to them.
Kid Stuff
Only
received one book for the kids, but it is well worth recommending. It is Birdology: 30 Activities and Observations
for Exploring the World of Birds by Monica Russo with photos by Kevin Byron
($15.95, Chicago Review Press, softcover). Aimed at ages 7 and up this older
reader found it fascinating. I have no doubt that a grade-schooler would as
well thanks to its interesting text, brief and fact-filled on each page, and
for its many wonderful full color photos of all manner of species. The
activities it suggests are easy enough for any young reader to undertake, but
the focus here is on observing the great diversity and beauty that exists among
many bird species. It treats the reader with respect and in addition to
information about migration, nesting, food, territories, conservation, and
other bird facts, it provides “Bird Words”, a useful glossary as well as common
and scientific names, plus resources on the Internet that will provide more
information for the curious. I would not be surprised that this book produces
some ornithologists in the future.
Novels, Novels, Novels
A taunt,
fast-moving thriller with a historical context is found in Patricia Gussin’s After the Fall ($26.95, Oceanview
Publishing). Laura Nelson’s career as a surgeon has ended due to a tragic
accident, but has led to her accepting a position as vice president of research
for a large pharmaceutical company. As she works to finalize approval of the
company’s groundbreaking new drug, Jake Harter, a malicious Food and Drug
Administration employee is working to stop the approval because he is obsessed
with Adawia Abdul, the beautiful Iraqi scientist who discovered the drug. He
does not want her to have any reason to return home to replace her dying father
in Saddam Hussein’s bioweapons program. A number of forces are a work as
Hussein’s henchmen apply pressure to assure her return and, if Laura Nelson
gets in his way, he will eliminate her as he has her predecessor, and his own
wife. The novel has an added sense of reality due to the fact that the author
has practiced medical research and been an executive with a leading healthcare
company. Her first novel, “Shadow of Death”, was nominated as the best first
novel by International Thriller Writers. This sixth novel is bound to attract
awards and is the fourth and final novel in her Laura Nelson series.
The Widow Tree by Nicole Lundrigan ($22.95, Douglas
& McIntrye, softcover) is set in the 1950’s post-war Yugoslavia and marks a
departure from her previous four novels. When three childhood friends find a
long-lost stash of Roman coins it precipitates the unraveling of their
relationships as they argue over what to do with their new found wealth. Nevena
insists it should be turned over to authorities as the coins belong to the
country. Janos wants to keep them and Dorjan walks the line between the two.
The decision to conceal their discovery turns disastrous when Janos disappears.
This is a compelling, richly layered story of silent betrayals in a tightly
knit village where the post-war air is simultaneously flush with hope and
weighted with suspicion. Amidst an intricate web of cultural tensions,
government control, family bonds and past mistakes, the truth behind many
closely held secrets is revealed with life-altering consequences. The author is
a masterful storyteller and this one is more than a notch above most novels.
World War Two serves as the backdrop for Sprouting
Wings by Henry Faulkner ($17.99, Two Harbors, softcover) in which Alan
Ericsson begins his journey to become a Navy pilot prior to the U.S. getting
into the war. The novel expertly weaves together adventure, love, and
historical fact to take the reader back to those days in the early 1940s as it
showcases the difficulties of daily life for American military men and women.
This is the first of a series of five novels that will follow the protagonist from
rookie pilot to a respected member of a squadron. Another perspective will be
seen in Alan’s wife, Jennifer, who works for the Office of Naval Intelligence
and transfers to Pearl Harbor in August 1941. It would be attacked in December.
For anyone wondering what life was like in those days and who also enjoys
reading about aviation, this novel will prove a treat.
If You Needed Me by Lee Lowrey ($22.94, iUniverse,
hardcover, $14.98 softcover and $3.99 Kindle) is a compelling narrative of
loss, loyalty and love drawn from the real life of Ms. Lowry. When Jenny
Longworth offers aid and comfort to her former college sweetheart David Perry
who had recently lost his French wife to cancer, their youthful passion is
reignited, creating a gauntlet of social and moral conflicts arising from the
disapproval of friends and family when she uproots her life in Boston and moves
to Europe to console David while he attempts to put his life back together.
Most of his friends welcome her but some view her with hostility. And David’s
children, Mark and Delphine, react to Jenny’s presence with confusion and
ambivalence. It should not surprise the reader to learn that Lee Lowrey gave up
a successful career in Boston and moved to Europe to help an ex-lover cope with
his grief becoming in time an expatriate, second wife, and step-parent.
For those
who enjoy a psychological thriller, they will find one in The Blue Journal by L.T. Graham ($15.95, Seventh Street Books,
softcover). When one of Randi Conway’s psychotherapy patients is found dead of
a gunshot wound, the investigation is turned over to Lieutenant Anthony Walker,
a former New York City cop now serving on the police force of an affluent
community in Fairfield County, Connecticut. He lives among the privileged
gentry, but knows from experience that appearance often hide reality. This is
certainly true of Elizabeth Knoebel. When Walker finds her private journal
entitled “Sexual Rites” it is clear she has been recording the explicit details
of her sexual adventures with various men, many of whom are married to the
women in her therapy group. She was a sexual predator and Walker believes that
the killer is another of Randi Conway’s patients. You will find it hard to put
this novel down. L.T. Graham is the pen name of a New England-based suspense
writer who is the author of several novels and readers will look forward to the
next one featuring Detective Anthony Walker.
Michael
McCarthy is widely read in conservative circles and has authored a novel, The
Rainbow Option ($13.50, 30 Cubits Press, softcover) a sequel to “The Noah
Option” both of which look to a very different, future America when people
struggle to survive under a flood of government oppression. It is a nation in
which gangs stalk the streets and are ruled by petty tyrants. If that seems to
come out of recent headlines of gangs of people shouting “Kill the Police” then
you have a sense of the future in McCarthy’s second novel when economic
collapse and tyranny is everywhere. The novel features software genius Isaiah
Mercury and a brilliant botanist Grace Washington who lead the underground
resistance people by those who have fled to refuges called “Arks” after Noah’s
Ark. When the government unleashes a deadly virus against its own citizens,
Grace and Isaiah race to develop a cure before millions die. It is a fast-paced tale that will hold your
attention and make you think about the future.
That’s it for
January! Tell your book-loving family,
friends and coworkers about Bookviews.com, a report that tells you about books
you may not read about anywhere else, but are sure to enjoy depending on your
interests.